Orchard heater



Sept. 18', 1923. 11,468,540

B. 1.. MILLER ORCHARD HEATER Filed April 50, 1923 column of coke,

Patented sept. 18,1923,

BANKS L.

MILLER, or sen JUAN, TEXAS.

ORCHARD HEATER.

' Application filed April so, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BANKS L. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Juan, in the county of Hidalgo and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Orchard Heaters, 01" which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to orchard heaters, as they are called, of the type illustrated in my Patent #1,458,536, granted on June- 12, 1923, heaters of this character including a base forming a grate for the support of a charcoal or the like, and a casing extendingu'pward from and removable frornthe base within which the coke is burned. f 1 c While I do notwish to be limited to this use, yet heaters of this character are particularly designed for usein orchards for the purpose of preventing frost and are particularly designed for burning whatis known as petroleum coke, sucha heater being-provided V with a body and a casing, thus causing thereon so that the bed of coke grate, thegrate being designed to hold acertain amount of petroleum or. like oil and support the bed of coke may be ignited by the burning oil.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a grate which constitutes a base for the heatercasing, this grate being so constructed that a column of air will be admitted at the center of the grate and carried upward through the'body of coke in the casing so that-the-center or core of the coke will he most highly heated and that ,coinbustion will; be reduced outward frointhe the casingv to last a much longer time than, it otherwise would.

A further object is to; provide a construction of this character wherein thebase is -formed to providea central grate, there be :wardly projecting lip ing an annular troughextendingaround the grate-and which" is designed totbe supplied vwith fuel oil,-*this.-trough having an outextending beyond theperiphery of the casingandof the grate so 7 as to permit oilto be pouredinto the trough v 1 without removing the sheet iron casing.

Another obj fi ing and grate that a certain ainountlof air maybe uniformly distributed around the exterior of the coke or between the exterior of the cokeand the wall of the casing.- 7 Still another object is to provide a burner of this character so constructed as to elimiisto so construct the cas-- .wardly extending air duct 19 Serial No. 635,634.

nate excessive heat adjacent the sheet iron drum or casing and which is so formed as to secure an even distribution of the; air at the extreme bottom of the column of coke to thus give a steady and even distribution of heat adjacent the ground, thus permitting the body which holds the coke and throws out the heat to be constructed in a very simple and inexpensive manner, and further permitting the body to be so constructed that it may be reversed when one end has been more or less burned out.

A further object is to provide a rain cover adapted to be placed on the top of the casing or drum and which when so placed acts to extinguish the fire within the drum.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description. 7

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein :-V

Figure l is a perspective view of an orchard heater constructed in accordance with my invention; I

FigureQ is a horizontal sectional view through the body of the heater, the base be ing shown in plan;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that my improved heater consists of three parts, namely a base 10, a sheet iron cylindrical body or druin ll, and a cover 12. The sheet iron body is imperforate and may have any desired diameter. The cover 12 has a central handle and a depending flange 13 which fits over the body 11 and this cover is imperforate. The base 10 is in the form of a grate and is of cast iron. It has a central, upwardly extending, circular wall 14 formed to provide at its upper end the trans versely'extending'fintegral grate bars 15 18 is left below the grate and the bottom'of the trough 16 forms in effect an annular base adapted to rest upon the ground; At one point the trough is formed with an in the form of an archway extending diametrically inward to the central air chamber 18, thewall forming this arched duct being designated 20. Above this arched wall 20 the outer wall 17 of the which is] in 7 trough is opened at v ceiving cup,

21 and a lip 22 is formed in the outer wall wall 20. Thus it will be seen that when the cylindrical body is disposed upon the base and filled with coke that the fuel oil may be poured into the cup or lip 22 and will fiow inward and be discharged on top of the wall 221 and then be discharged laterally into the annular trough so that from time to time this annular trough may be filled with oil. Aw-icl': as, for instance, an asbestos wick 2 L maybe disposed at one end in the cup 22 and at its other end extend beyond the walls 23 and into the annular trough, this wick being provided for the purpose of igniting the oil in the annular trough.

It will be noted that the outside wall 17 of the trough is sinuous in form so as to provide alternate re-entrant and re-extrant portions. The wall is rc-entrant at the points 25 and it will be seen that when the cylindrical, body 11 is in place on this wall and resting upon re-entrant portions25 will extend inward of this cylindrical body and that thus air inav ass-up in the space between the body and the wall 17 at uniform distances around the entire mass of coke contained within the ign tes the oil in the In the operation of this device, the circular trough in the cast iron grate is filled with any type of fuel oil or combustible oil and the sheet iron body is placed over the grate. Petroleum coke is then dropped in the drum in the crude lump form and the rain cap is placed onthe drum to prevent water from getting into the starting oil. The heater may then be lighted by means of the wick 24 or by pouring burning gasoline this filling lip, which, 111) from ator'ch into annular trough and the oil lights the coke. No further adjustment is required in its operation. The heater is so constructed that the fire may be put out by placing on the rain cover or lifting the i sheet iron body from off the base and letting the coke slide out on the ground. 7 .7 7

It will be seen that with this, construction fresh air is taken directly from the outside atmosphere and discharged within the cengi-ving the most intense heat up through the center mass'of, coke,"thus eliminating excessive heat adiacent"the sheet iron drum. This causes the evenly at the extreme.

drum t'ojlast ordinary drum. The. corrugated outer wall of'the base admits and distributes the air lower end of the colwhich thus gives a steady'and umn of coke,

' even distribution of the heat adjacent the construction as this perground. Such a p be formed simply as a mi'ts' the body to the projections 26' that the V pressed.

be supported thereby,"

several times as long as the comprising a base cylinder of sheet. iron. hollow body is the samesize at either end, it is obvious that it may be reversed so that when one end has been burned out the body may be inverted upon the base, giving the heater double life. charged with coke while burning and as fast as the coke burns the unburned coke moves downward in the drum. The fire may be put out by placingon the rain'cover 15 or the whole device may be disassembled by removing the body from the grate, which will permit thcoke" to slide out on the ground. of not having proper draft.

1. A heater of the character described comprising a base and a cylindrical body detachably resting upon'the base, the base being formedto provide a central grate, and a depressed annular trough surrounding the grate, the body bein'gadapted' to rest upon the outerwall-of the 'trough, the trough being formed at one pointto provide an inwardly extending air duct opening be- The fire then goes out by reason- Inasmuch as this The drum may be re low the grateand the outer wallof the V trough being formed with an outwardly projecting lip communicating with the in- 3. A heater 'of" the character described comprising a base and-a cylindrical body adapted torest uponthe baseythe base being formed'to provide a central grate, and a degrate, the troughat one point being formed to provideanair-duet extending radially inward" from the exterior wall of the trough to the-interior Iwallthereof. r

4. In heater a base and cyl-in'dricjal sheet iron body? adapted to be disposed "upon the base and base being sinuous to- 'fth entrant portions extendi ng inward beyond the cylindrical body to permit theentrance Ofil-lI-"f.i-, V.

y 5. A heater iof' the character described "and a cylindrical body mounted'thereon, the baseb'eing formed to provide a central grate'and-yanannular oil trough extending around the grate, the

and having side flanges to form a receiv ng of the character described 7 base and be detachably annular trough surrounding the the outer. wall of the erebyprovide re-' outer Wall of the oil trough being sinuous to thereby provide re-entrant portions extending inward beyond the cylindrical Wall to permit the entrance of air, the trough being formed with an air duct extending radially intersecting the trough and opening into the central portion of the base below the grate.

6. A heater of the character described 10 comprising a base formed to provide a grate and an oil channel the grate being disposed above the bottom of the base, and means belng provided for permitting air to enter beneath the grate, a cylindrical sheet iron body adapted to rest upon the base and extend upward therefrom, and a cover remov able from the body.

In testimony whereof I hereunto alfix my signature.

BANKS L. MILLER. 

